Drawing on his knowledge of myth, legend, Zen koans, pop culture, and Buddhist folklore, and speaking from a foundation of more than 50 years of formal Zen practice, and over 10 years as an authorized Zen teacher, in this companion volume to A Zen Life of Buddha, (Sumeru 2022), award-winning author Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin looks at the nature and role of bodhisattvas, the wise and compassionate beings at the heart of Zen.Along the way he explores such questions as: What are ...

Zen Buddhism begins with the Buddha's enlightenment. While the word, "enlightenment" suggests there is something you get and that once have it you are "enlightened," "intimacy" comes closer to the truth. We gain nothing. Rather, through attention to counting the breath, experiencing the breath, or putting our attention into a koan, we become of less interest to ourselves and, in this losing is finding. The world steps in - trees, mountains, bugs, rivers, people - and we rediscover our orig...

***WINNER, 2011 Storytelling World Resource Award – Best Storytelling CollectionThe jataka tales—stories of the Buddha’s past lives (in both human and animal form)—were first said to have been told by the Buddha himself 2,500 years ago. Five hundred and fifty jataka tales comprise part of the oldest Buddhist text, the Pali Canon. From this wealth of folklore, award-winning author and storyteller Rafe Martin has chosen ten tales that illustrate the ideals of the Buddhist

From Algonquin Indian folklore comes one of the most haunting, powerful versions of the Cinderella tale ever told.In a village by the shores of Lake Ontario lived an invisible being. All the young women wanted to marry him because he was rich, powerful, and supposedly very handsome. But to marry the invisible being the women had to prove to his sister that they had seen him. And none had been able to get past the sister's stern, all-knowing gaze.Then came the Rough...

Love grows in the most unexpected places...Long suffering Suzy is deeply in love with her husband, Eric, but his career-focused life is starting to put a strain on their family and their marriage.When the corporate climber inherits his father’s vintage car, he is dismayed to learn that it comes with an unusual caveat; a caveat that will take him from the comfort of his luxury London office to an overgrown vegetable plot in rural Essex.But while Eric...